Patient Stories

Hi, I’m Jackie. I’m 25-years-old. I was one of the very first Midland Memorial Hospital employees to sign up for the Advance Care Planning (ACP)/Advance Directive (AD) training. For many of you reading this, your first question might be “Why is someone so young wanting to know more about ACP and ADs? Isn’t that for older people?” The truth is, the four leading causes of death are heart attacks, strokes, accidents and cancer. Three of these four leading causes of death are sudden events and can ha...
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One minute, Hudson Routh was going about his daily routine. The next minute, he collapsed and slumped to the floor. Routh was having a stroke. His wife called 911 and the emergency responders took him right to Midland Memorial Hospital, which provides some of the most advanced care available for stroke. The doctors treating Routh quickly prepared to administer a new treatment called intracerebral tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Known as the clot-busting drug, tPA dissolves the clot that’s blocking t...
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On October 7, 2011, Rafi and Silvia Matti looked forward to a sunny and fun-filled week vacationing in the Mexican resort town Cabo San Lucas. Suddenly, pain gripped 40-year-old Rafi’s chest like a vice. The stabbing sensation was so sharp "it felt like someone was poking me with a needle,” he says. “I knew I was having a heart attack.” On the plane flying home, he broke into a sweat as crippling pain clenched his chest. A doctor came to Rafi’s aid, and when he learned Rafi’s pain now radiated down one ...
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